1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for obtaining products and/or services, more particularly, to a method and system for using real-time communication to obtain products and/or services.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the rising use of computer systems in the home or work environment, the use of peripheral devices has also increased. Due to the consistent use of these peripheral devices, there comes a time when the peripheral device needs to be serviced, or replacement of consumables (i.e., toners, ink cartridges, etc) is required. Typically, to replace consumables, a user will call a consumable supplier and place and order, or mail an order forms to a supplier, or travel to a local consumable supplier for the required consumable. More recently, consumers have been placing orders via the Internet on a consumable supplier's web site.
A typical scenario that occurs is where a user wants to print out a document, but discovers that the printing device is either low on or out of ink. To replenish the required ink, the user can perform on of the methods described above. One problem many users encounter when they go to order ink, is that they are faced with a number of different types of inks to choose from and they do not know which of these inks is best suited for their printing device. This problem is applicable for other consumables as well, such as paper.
With the advent of Internet shopping, a user can place an order online and have the consumable(s) shipped to a location of the user's choice. One of the drawbacks to this process is when the user first tries to choose the appropriate vendor for their product. There are many factors into choosing a supplier: cost of the consumables, whether the item is in stock, cost of shipping and handling, is the vendor well known where its products are named brands and not fakes. Once the user determines which online vendor to order from, the user usually has to navigate through a number of links/web pages to find the correct consumable for their peripheral device. The user typically needs to know the exact make and model of the device so there is no confusion as to which product to order. All of this can be very frustrating to a new user who has never experienced ordering from an online vendor.
The use of electronic mail (hereinafter referred to as “e-mail”) notifications has made the process of Internet shopping a bit easier. In this process, a user receives e-mails notifying the user of a need to order a product for a peripheral device. The e-mail typically consists of hypertext links directing the user to a general products web page for the peripheral device. A disadvantage to this is that this process is not done in real-time, where there could be a delay in the e-mail notification, and the user is left without their needed product. In addition, the problem of being directed to a general web page and then having to navigate through a myriad of web pages to reach the one associated with the user's peripheral device is present in the e-mail notification process.
Although e-mail is currently one of the more popular ways of communicating, a significant number of people are beginning to use real-time chat applications to communicate. In a real-time chat environment, a user is able to, among other things, communicate with friends and/or coworkers in real-time, receive real-time up-to-date news, or receive notifications from a vendor's web site based on the user's predefined settings. For example, a user can set their favorite traveling location(s) on a particular travel related web site, and then when any travel specials or news related to one of the pre-defined locations occurs, the user receives notifications on the user's real-time chat program for that location from the travel related web site. It is features such as this that has helped increase the popularity of real-time chat.
Given the popularity of real-time environments, what is needed is a real-time process that will enhance the way of obtaining products or services that is not time consuming and is easy to use, where the appropriate product for the peripheral device can be obtained before it needs to be replenished/replaced.